


Wherefore art thou, Romeo?

by altersweetego



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-05
Updated: 2017-05-05
Packaged: 2018-10-28 08:39:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10827723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/altersweetego/pseuds/altersweetego
Summary: if you knew from the start it wasn't going to work, why now your "it wasn't going to work" seems like you don't really mean it?//Post 12 ep, the view from the Veronica's perspective.





	Wherefore art thou, Romeo?

**Author's Note:**

> Once again, English isn't my first language. And I'm kinda sorry for all the mistakes I probably made, but after tonight episode I just couldn't keep calm and I guess we all need some comfort (although I don't really know is this story comforting or heartbreaking).

_p >One day I’ll come back if the door’s still open._  
Just promise to keep your heart broken.  
(c)

***

“I guess it’s over,” Kevin says, closing his eyes for a second.  
Well, it’s not even a second, not even a half of a second, but Veronica manages to notice. She had never been observant, and it sounds weird, but in New York to be observant wasn’t really a life-saving option, while here, in Riverdale, it sure is. Here in Riverdale you have to always be on the alert.  
Betty moves forward, learning to Kevin to firmly place her hand on his knee. She is obviously going to say something, but he shakes his head like no, no, please, don’t.  
Veronica knows what Betty’s willing to say. Well, Kev, don’t be upset, life is tough, but so are you, and in the end you’ll sure find a perfect guy to love you with all of his heart and so on and so on.  
But also Veronica knows what Kevin is talking about.  
She feels really sorry but she is completely agree, it really looks like it’s over. It really looks like the end of a beautiful story. Romeo met Romeo, they both fell in love and they both even contrived not to die. But now this is over.  
Looking at his notebook (yes, three of them are here at Veronica’s to do their homework, to watch something stupid and to spend at least one normal evening without all this murder drama), Kevin begins to explain, “This couldn’t end well, that’s was right from the start. We are too different. It couldn’t work.”  
“Why?” Veronica thinks. It already worked like a beautiful story of first love, forbidden and pure. What else do you need? Holy hell, yes, Kevin, you're absolutely right and it was clear from the start you two wouldn’t end well, but then why, why all these words now sound not like you really mean it, but like you are only trying to force yourself to believe, like you just want to think this way (and you can't).  
Two boys from completely different worlds. A Sheriff’s son and a boy from the trailer park. Here they are, meeting at the drive-in and kissing each other with hot thirsty mouths (well, she might know more than it would be appropriate, but Kevin is Kevin). Here is one of them, typing his number right in the other’s phone and then waiting, and waiting, and waiting for a text or a call (well, for her Kevin was obvious from the start because you shouldn’t hold your phone so close or grab it so fast if you try to hide you're waiting for something). And then here is the second one, finally texting.  
Texting. The messages start flying from one to another, twenty four hours a day (that’s why for Veronica Joaquin isn’t just "Joaquin", he is more like “twenty-four-hours-Joaquin”), and for a few times it’s only Betty or Veronica who stops Kevin from running into a pillar, or tree, or some random person. He smiles at his phone like a madman, and here comes the bet between Betty and Veronica: the bet, dedicated to how soon will he tell them.  
It happens accidentally. Kevin just slams to their dinner table, going all like “guys, guys, you can’t even imagine, he always texts with full sentences, all the comas in places, do you even understand, he’s like goddamn book but in messages, I just can’t!” without even understanding they have no idea who's him talking about. Well, maybe, Betty and Veronica have some ideas. Not officially though.  
This is how it all begins. And then it lasts, blooming like a flower, one petal after another. This is Joaquin coming to them after school to pick Kevin up (and, God, his eyes are phenomenal, crystal-clear, pure ice when he looks at whatever that isn’t Kevin). This is Joaquin leading guys to Southside Serpent’s Club, already being the official boyfriend (unlike Betty, who was afraid even to think about this word, Kevin seems to be proud and happy to use it). This is Joaquin and Kevin coming to Jughead’s birthday, hands holding, and this is Joaquin and Kevin sneaking out of the party, hands still clued to each other’s.  
Veronica isn’t blind and she notices everything. Veronica isn’t blind, and Kevin can’t keep his mouth locked. He desperately needs someone to talk to, someone to tell all of the details, and it would be a lie, if Veronica said she wasn’t pleased to give him this opportunity. Does it make her a bad person, if she was glad he came to her, not to Betty? Anyway, this is how she happens to know about the short, breathless Spanish words Joaquin whispers between their kisses and this is how she happens to know the ground on the Sweatwater’s shores is stone-cold even through the two layers of jackets. The hickeys on Kevin’s neck and collarbones are what she can notice without talking about.  
And, to be honest, she knows the meaning of those words-between-kisses, but Kevin doesn’t want her to tell him, he wants to hear it from Joaquin.  
Baby.  
My heart.  
The light of my life.  
“It hurts like hell,” Veronica thinks. A declaration of love without even mention of love, made in a language your loved one can’t understand.  
She knows, Joaquin sneaks into Kevin’s room through the window whenever sheriff lefts for a work. And this is not always means what you’re thinking it means, because just cuddling is one of the best things on Earth.  
Later these two attend to homecoming together. Sheriff still doesn’t know about his son playing Romeo to the other Romeo, but it seems like soon he will find out. It's hard no to notice. Veronica has never seen Kevin so happy before. Well, it doesn’t count, they’ve been friends for not so long, but Betty tells her the same. Kevin and Joaquin make it really fast from “let’s keep it secret” to being official boyfriends, and now you can replace Riverdale’s electric power station with Kevin, because he literally shines. Damn, he shines so bright it makes her eyes ache.  
And then there is one more reason to aching. The sheriff’s son and the guy from the gang, it sounds not only like a modern version of Shakespeare, but also like something that makes you very suspicious. They are way too different, yes, so maybe it’s all not so clear here? What if Joaquin is just playing some kind of a game? What if he uses Kevin? What if…  
She doesn’t want to tell anyone about her suspicions, but Betty isn’t an anyone. And Betty says she used to think about that, too, but look at Joaquin, Ronnie, look at him when he’s looking at Kevin.  
Veronica does.  
Furthermore, Veronica remembers also what Joaquin says when he thinks Kevin wouldn’t understand.  
Baby.  
My heart.  
The light of my life.  
Veronica doesn’t take her eyes off Joaquin while he’s speaking about FP and Jason Blossom. As a selfish princess she used to be, she had never really cared what the other people feel, but here in Riverdale she learns to pay her attention. In Joaquin’s case, this is easy. The only thing that matters to him is what Kevin would think about what’s happened.  
Kevin is mad. Kevin attacks using his dad as a weapon. Kevin suddenly (and it could be funny, if it wouldn’t be so stupid) realizes that Joaquin is not just the guy with these icy eyes who sends him cute dog pics and even cuter texts twenty hours a day).  
Joaquin doesn’t seem to be impressed with the mentions of sheriff, but Kevin’s anger makes his hands twitch as he wants to hold Kevin and calm him down. He doesn’t move though. He doesn’t move even when Kevin says this stupid “You’re a criminal” (like really? haven't you noticed? didn't you know from the start?), he just nods to himself. A person like him must be used to hear this. A criminal. A mess. Not worthy. Waste of time, space and everything.  
That’s so bad, bad, bad, bad.  
When they find another Serpent guy dead, on the back of her mind Veronica is surprised with how fast Joaquin reacts.  
“I cannot be here,” he says, grabbing Kevin by his wrist to escape. Like together.  
Without even thinking.  
“I cannot be here,” he says. And takes Kevin’s hand.  
Seems like “I” is also a “we” in this case. In his life. That’s how it feels for him.  
Veronica had always thought about herself as a bitch, but now she wants to lay down and cry.  
Later Kevin tells her about Joaquin’s leaving. They had to say their good-byes on the bus station, and her amazing best friend, being as stupid as he is, couldn’t find nothing better than say “I don’t know you” like it wasn’t his own desire to close his eyes on their differences or like you can really know nothing about the person you text with everyday. Twenty freaking four hours a day, once again.  
Kevin says, “I kissed him and I couldn’t breathe. Not sure if it was because of the kiss or because of the pain.”  
Veronica’d bet it was pain.  
Now it’s been about a week since Joaquin left, and the right choise of words is radio silence. He doesn’t answer the phone, and the messages for him are “not delivered”, he disappears over the roads like he didn’t even exist, and Veronica can’t stop thinking about how cruel it is. And how unfair. She had always have everything and even more, she still has her mom and her friends (which is more than everything, yeah), while someone has to deal with everything on his own. Run, run, run and run, even if all he wants is to stay.  
Kevin and Joaquin are too different, yes, so sooner or later it was going to end. The sheriff’s son and the guy from the gang, you can’t just keep your eyes close for a shit like this forever. They are too different. It was predictable. It was clear from the start, and from the start they all knew how exactly was it going to end (aching, and hurting, and burning, and making you wanna cry), but at least it didn’t end because of someone’s violence or someone’s betrayal. It ended just… just because. An irresistible force of fate, if you want. She snorts, remembering Shakespeare. _Then I defy you, stars!_  
There would be no fight with the stars. What Kevin has to do is to be happy about this love ever was in his life and learn to accept it has ended. Later, he possibly would be able to remember Joaquin with a warmth, not a pain. Well, at least there was someone in his life who wasn’t afraid to hold his hand in public. Or who sent him cute dog pics everyday.  
She isn’t jealous. She is sad.  
Veronica stares at the ceiling.  
It’s over. This story is absolutely complete, it has string, culmination, denouement, and no happy ending.  
To be honest, this story is too complete to be real.  
“This could be an end,” she says slowly, letting her words fall like pearls from her necklace. “But only in a book or a movie. But this is life, and life― Well, Kevin, life doesn’t really bother to create perfect stories.”  
Betty leans forward again, but says nothing. Veronica likes to think Betty gets what she’s talking about.  
Kevin looks at her. Now he’s almost like Joaquin, icy and cold (and he sleeps in Joaquin’s t-shirt, Veronica knows), but his lips twitch in a small smile.  
He nods.  
Veronica doesn’t want to say that if people are meant for each other, they will find one another wherever they are, or will be tied to each other forever even in different corners of the Universe. Whatever. She just knows: some things last forever, even if you think they wouldn’t, and well, the life is not a damn writer or damn movie director to create a perfect scenario with no holes and all things right in their places for you to cry over the last page or the credits after saying good-bye on the bus station.  
As long as you’re alive, anything can happen.  
“It’s been a week,” Kevin says, “and I still keep my window open. Just in case.”  
Betty puts her hand over her mouth, sobbing.  
Veronica puts her arms around her. Well, maybe, she was never good not only at power of observation, but also at the prediction of future, but she’s hundred percents sure… She’s hundred percents sure the window in Kevin’s room would stay open for a very long time.  
Like really.

***

When Joaquin comes back, he just stands there, by the window, silent, with his hands down and his heart going crazy. He doesn’t know if someone’s still waiting for him here (because no one ever waits for him, ever, nowhere), but the window was open and he’s sick and tired from running, and hiding, and living without the light of his life.  
He stares at Kevin, and to look in his eyes is even more painful that he thought it would be. But also more beautiful.  
Finally right.  
“New jacket. It suits you.” Kevin nods casually, looking at him over the math text-book as if nothing happened. He rises himself from the table to meet Joaquin at the middle of the room and says, “I missed you, you stupid.”  
He looks at Joaquin like he is about to hit him or hug him, and Joaquin waits for decision.  
“I missed you so much,” Kevin says again, putting his arms around him and pulling him closer.  
Joaquin closes his eyes.  
Whatever happens next, now he’s finally home.


End file.
